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What To Do About Diesel

A report by the Boston-based Clean Air Task Force reported that commuters get 60 percent of their exposure to harmful pollution during the 6 percent of the day that they commute. That's particularly worrisome for us as cyclists, since we have no filtering system like cars with air-conditioning. Apparently Columbus was one of the cities that had information gathered for the study.

There is talk about requiring soot-reducing mechanisms on all diesel engines, but we'll see how that goes...

Comments

From what I've heard, masks only work if you aren't breathing hard - the faster you want to breath, the harder it is to pull air in through the filters (which makes sense). I was looking at buying a Respro Techno facemask a while back but the MEC salesman advised against it for this very reason.

One other statistic I've seen bandied about is that car drivers tend to get exposed to more pollution than cyclists; since the air intake for a car is fairly close to the exhaust of the car in front, the fumes get sucked straight into the vehicle with the air filter only filtering out large particles. Cyclists (who tend to be higher and off to one side) don't get hit quite so badly. Breathing in through the nose in congested areas helps quite a bit, too.

The best solution I've found is to ride on residential streets away from the vast majority of the pollution. I don't know how well that would work in Columbus, but here in Halifax I can get almost the whole way in with only a couple of km on busy roads.

Thanks for the input. I'd read some of the same statistics about the drivers being more exposed, and that makes perfect sense. My personal commute doesn't allow me to take too many residential streets as I have to cross a river to get to my job, but that's good advice for those who have the option.

I was also considering cutting it down a little bit by wearing a bandana, too... plus it'd give me a rakish, outlaw look as I was cycling along. ;)

The Dispatch report that Columbus Rides Bikes shared on Facebook today is entitled "More crashes come with more bicycle traffic on dedicated lanes," and discusses the new lanes and the number of accidents that have happened there. None of these accidents/crashes has been fatal.

So... you can read the article and get the statistics. Here's a summary of them, though, with a quote from the article:
...the number of crashes has jumped. Between 2012 and 2015, there were five crashes involving bicycles on Summit between Hudson and East 5th Avenue.…

In a move that has left quite a few people stranded in Columbus, the ride-sharing company Car2Go has announced today that they're pulling out of the local market as of May 31.

car2go is saddened to announce that we have made the difficult decision to suspend our operations in Columbus as of May 31. Read why here: https://t.co/gRSibUhotB
— car2go Columbus (@car2goColumbus) May 24, 2018
This has got me more than a little pissed off and very inconvenienced.

There's no doubt - Car2Go improved the quality of my family's life for the past few years while they were active in town. As a one-car family where I rode my bike and took the bus most days, Car2Go filled in the gap nicely when we needed that extra set of wheels to get ourselves places.

Here's the news they sent out via their website today:

HELLO,
We’re writing to let you know that after careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue car2go service in Columbus, effective May 31, 2018.
In 201…

I've been out with the flu for a few days (no, I'm not oinking), and I missed this surprising post from Jeff Stephens of Consider Biking back on October 9th. Suffice to say that Jeff took some time to sit back and watch the behavior of our city's cyclists, and was dismayed at what he saw. I'm in complete agreement with Jeff on this issue. Simply too many Columbus cyclists do not obey the law. But let's look at the reasons that Jeff proposed in his commentary: Why are you riding this way? Are you so self-absorbed, that the world revolves around you? Are you just opportunistic since the bicycle gives you the opportunity to cheat traffic? Are you “expressing yourself” with your nonchalant coolness, hipness, whatever? Or, do you just not know any better? Do you just follow the example of the guy/gal in front of you because you’re new to urban bicycling? (I think it’s the latter.)Jeff's statement breaks the possible reasons for this behavior down into two extrem…